The entry-level 3000 Series includes 12 models, with four aimed at OEMs and eight at the channel (VARs and systems/storage integrators), that vary in connectivity, controller, drive and software options.

All of the models include two 8Gbps Fibre Channel connections per controller (or four connections in a dual-controller configuration). Hybrid models can be configured with up to four Fibre Channel interfaces and four iSCSI interfaces in dual-controller configurations.

The 3000 Series marks the first time that Dot Hill has supported 8Gbps Fibre Channel and hybrid FC/iSCSI configurations.

Another new feature is AssuredRemote, which provides embedded (in the array) asynchronous replication for remote disaster recovery (via either the iSCSI or Fibre Channel connections). This eliminates the need for host-based replication agents. In most of the 3000 Series models, AssuredRemote is available as a licensed option. The replication engine supports up to 192TB of capacity, 1,000 snapshots per array, and can be bundled with the company's AssuredCopy and AssuredSnap software.

The RAID arrays can be configured with 3.5-inch drives or 2.5-inch small form factor (SFF) drives in 2U 12-drive or 24-drive configurations. In addition to SAS and SATA drives, the 3000 Series also supports solid-state disk (SSD) drives from Intel and STEC. The systems can support a maximum of 144 drives via JBOD expansion units.

On the performance front, Dot Hill claims throughput of up to 1,750MBps on sequential read operations and 1,375MBps on RAID-5 write operations.

Company officials did not release detailed pricing information (which is due in about four weeks) but Andy Mills, Dot Hill's vice president of marketing and business development, says an FC-only 3000 system without drives is expected to have street pricing of less than $10,000. A 12TB configuration (model 3730) with 12 1TB SATA drives is expected to be priced at just under $15,000 with external Fibre Channel connections.

"Eco-friendly" features in the 3000 Series include drive spin-down, 595-watt power supplies, and Dot Hill's EcoStor battery-free alternative for cache memory, which uses a combination of super capacitors and flash memory.

Dot Hill officials did not disclose OEMs for the 3000 Series, but some of the company's existing OEMs include vendors such as Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, NetApp and Sepaton.